Oranges bag an easy win amid doubts about Hossam’s secret drink
“I forgot to drink, can I sip some of your water” asked innocently Massimo moments before the game. “Ehm… sure…” replied Hossam, after an apparent initial reluctance. After tasting only few drops of the pale liquid Massimo’s expression changed. “This is not water, what is it?” he asked. “Well… it’s a … a drink… you know,….. kind of tea….” was Hossam’s vague reply, delivered with a whisper while suspiciously looking left and right to ensure no one from the opposing team was watching. No further details were provided about the blend of tea used, or what herbs or other ingredients were added.
Whatever was in that bottle, it worked. Only minutes into the game, playing with the Oranges, Hossam went ahead, received a low ball from Yassin and touched it nicely scoring the first goal with the coolness and precision of a consumed striker. Oranges increased their tally with Francesco, who scored from inside the box, and again later, when he was ready to exploit a terrible distractions of the Colours’ defence. Probably frustrated by his recent lack of goals, Giancarlo had sent the ball towards his own goal. The ball would have gone in, as the goalkeeper was nowhere to be seen, but Francesco did not accept that, he run towards the ball and made a final touch to ensure the goal was attributed to him rather than as Giancarlo’s own goal. A gesture of pure friendship to avoid him such embarrassment.
The Colours team was numerically advantaged, playing with 8 players against 7, but lacked a professional goalkeeper and had to resort to rotating ones. On the other side, Oranges could count on the ever-reliable Paride in goal, a circumstance that infused them so much confidence that it was impossible to note that they lacked one player. Wearing a bib was also rookie Bijan, from Iran, a defending midfielder that delivered a solid performance, with calm, clean play, and that we hope to see become a regular.
The late arrival of Christian provided the opportunity for a reshuffle, with him joining the Colours and Giancarlo switching to the Oranges. When they saw Giancarlo put on the bib, some commentators raised doubts that he had already secretly signed for the Oranges when he tried to score an own goal earlier, but those accusation were quickly dismissed as garbage. If anything, Giancarlo might have been a bit confused about the team change, as proven later when he wanted to shoot a corner assigned to his opponents.
Now with numeric parity, and a comfortable lead, the Oranges seemed to relax a bit. Hossam was running less, perhaps the effect of his tea was diminishing. On the other side, despite having lost the numeric advantage, the Colours started to play better, with Christian introducing much needed defense-midfield coordination, and finally found their way to beat Paride (never an easy task), with Johannes (twice), Khaled and Al.
It wasn’t much of a remuntada, as the Oranges were able to score three more times with Joussef and one with Giancarlo, who silenced his critics with a magnificent curved shot. It could have been more if Francesco had converted the penalty he gained when Thomas fouled him in the box, but the Italian lost his chance to get a hat-trick by shooting wide.
When it was time for the Golden Goal, Paride was instructed by team captain Massimo to remain in the box and avoid wandering in attack, following the events of the last two weeks. The goalkeeper duly obliged, but even him could not stop Nizar’s shot. A goal that sealed the score at 7-5, not enough to give the Colours the victory but that certainly provided some cause of satisfaction.
After the match, the picture of Hossam’s bottle went viral, fuelling suspicions on social media. The topic was trendy on Twitter, and a thread on Reddit entitled “What’s in Hossam’s bottle?” quickly reached 150,000 comments. The team released a statement saying that the recipe will remain secret, despite several companies active in the energy drink business expressing interested in buying it.
There were several contenders for The Man of The Match Award, particularly Joussef, who scored an hat-trick and lead the attacking efforts of the Oranges, but the accolade went to Paride, not just author of some spectacular saves, but also instrumental in keeping his team focused and organised.
“Goalkeepers need an element of insanity“, he said smiling in his post-match interview, quoting the late Oliver Kahn. We agree, what would football be without them? Let’s just hope Alessandro and TonyL are back soon to bring more craziness (and team balance) to the pitch.
ORANGE-COLOURS 7-5
GOALS
ORANGE: Hossam, Joussef (3), Francesco (2), Giancarlo
COLOURS: Johannes (2), Nizard, Khaled, Al
TEAMS
ORANGE: Paride, Massimo, Bijan, Hossam, Yassin, Giancarlo, Yousef, Francesco
COLOURS: Thomas, Christian, Johannes, Khaled, Romeo, Al, Adam B,
Nizar